The Nation Newspaper

Category: Commentaries

  • Jang-led NGF meets!

    How, a great headline is made of this: “Jang-led NGF meets in Abuja.” This was cast by a national newspaper last Monday and it spontaneously tickled my fancy whereupon I had immediately adopted it as cannon for Hardball’s fodder. Many had accused Hardball of being near misanthropic toward Governor Jonah Jang of Plateau State but how can one possibly help that with the man availing us a headline like this in addition to other freebies. So if the NGF (Nigerian Governors Forum) faction led by Jang meets in Abuja and the story comes out sounding like jangled NGF, Hardball can hardly be blamed if a power drama suddenly becomes eerily onomatopoeic.

    Now jangled as we know it, means when objects strike or are struck together and they make ringing and irritating noise. Thus when Jang gathers a horde of 15 fellows who are supposed to be governors and they claim to represent the majority of Nigeria’s 36 governors and they meet and purport to take deep-reaching decisions that include constitutional amendment then dear readers, it will only be appropriate to say that they are jangling, not meeting. Let’s recall quickly that the NGF has been an object of intense politicking and feuding among the ruling elite of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) since last year. The leaders of PDP had tried to stop Rivers State Governor Rotimi Amaechi, the incumbent chairman of the NGF from seeking a second term in office for obvious political calculations that point towards the 2015 presidential poll.

    But Amaechi would not budge; he had gone into the election against his party’s candidate, Jang. He trounced him by 19 votes to 16 in a keenly contested, free and fair poll conducted by people of no mean status than governors. Since they could not have their way, the Jang-led (!) group turned it into a mud-fight – what Lagosians would call roforofo fight. Of course not many who are used to winning by hook or crook (like the PDP) would live down the fact that one jug-headed governor had taken them apart. This is the genesis of this now famous Jang-led NGF which is fastidiously engaged in this mock parade.

    They held a press conference quickly claiming victory, not minding what Nigerians and the watching world saw or even think. They paid a courtesy call on the president who not minding the stench of their affair, received them with fanfare in a naked endorsement of perfidy. Egged on, they quickly set up a counter-secretariat and ever since, the jang-ling body has continued to pretend to meet as if all was well. Their meetings have not only constituted an irritating noise, it has continued to evolve into a repudiation of all decency, a national shame and an assault on the Nigerian psyche. If our governors, our prime leaders of the moment could before our eyes and the eyes of the world, enact a lie, insist on the lie, propagate the lie, live the lie and spend our resources on the lie, then that acutely portends doom.

    When such a woebegone body now seeks to amend our constitution then they really have carried the sacrifice past its destination, as the saying goes. It may well be time for all to challenge this charade and tell them that enough is enough. We must take an especial note that top on the outcome of the meeting of this Jang-led NGF is that the, “the forum constituted a five-man committee to streamline the proposed constitution amendment.” This abominable group deigns to make constitution for Nigerians! This joke surely jangles.

  • Almajiri: A blessing or curse to Nigeria?

    As we trudge towards 2014, the critical question every Nigerian ought to ponder conscientiously include whether we should step into that epoch transformed beyond President Goodluck Jonathan’s imagination as a new nation with new structures, new aspirations, new thinking and, therefore, a brand new constitution. Or shall we enter the era as discordant as we are today, encumbered and impaired by colonial and neo-colonial cobwebs, which make us not only a perennial volcano but also a hapless, incorrigible laughing stock of the African continent?

    I know that Pastor Enoch Adeboye is passionate about praying for Nigeria, and we are quite appreciative, but for how long will the man of God continue to do so for a nation that cannot foresee trouble or its source and pre-empt it? I raised this point because, considering the Boko Haram security challenge facing us today, no one seems to bother as to whether, in all sincerity, looking at Nigeria’s standing but informal army of Almajiris, which Bishop Matthew Kukah estimated (The Nation, 1/5/2011) at between 12-15 million from where Maitatsine obviously recruited his members in 1983 and from where Mohammed Yussuf and Abubarkar Shekau recruited their followers, and from where ambitious politicians also recruit thugs and all– whether it will be well with Nigeria as we enter 2014—whether seeing elements of MASSOB milling around and bidding their time, and seeing the OPC in sidon dey look posture it will still be well with Nigeria tomorrow.

    Although these other groups are yet to wear the toga of real militants, can it be said that they pose no imminent danger, considering the fact that a new government may emerge tomorrow to provoke and push them to the wall like in the case of Boko Haram whose leader Yussuf was controversially murdered by security men?

    If in actual fact these groups do pose some threat, must we wait until we are overtaken by the imperative of another amnesty situation before we engage them in talks? Why must we be in the habit of shouting ‘hold’ only when the shot has left the gun? Why won’t we for once make hay while the sun shines? Like the Almajiri, which we are told is part of the people’s culture in the North, are MASSOB and OPC et al people’s culture? Certainly not. Then, why not start the inexorable national conference gradually by opening a dialogue window for such groups as a necessary prelude to a holistic national confab? If we could not decisively rein in the Niger Delta militants, is it the MASSOB, OPC et al that we will be able to rein in when push comes to shove?

    Early last June, the US State Department put attractive price tags on a number of leading terrorists, including the Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau, but up to now these elements are still at large. Understandably, the highest price tag of $7million was placed on Abubakar Shekau, who recently posted a message on the internet calling on Muslims around the world to join the struggle to create an Islamic state in Nigeria. Although Shekau’s message appeared to be directed to the outside world, his real target was and still remains Nigerians, especially those in the northern states together with their large population of Almajiris and other Islamic fundamentalist groups, who tend to be easily moved, excited and influenced by the negative heroism and heroics of any religious lunatic fringe in the area, especially those embroiled already in a running confrontation with government. Therefore, given the fact that religion, as Marx observed, is the opium of the people, if there be any time in Nigeria that the activities of members of the Almajiri institution, as well as those that groom, indoctrinate or mentor them, should be closely watched and tackled this is it. But instead of doing this, the Federal Government seems rather to be enamoured of overindulging or pampering the North by investing scanty resources in building schools and other facilities for a denominational institution which is not only outside both the exclusive and concurrent constitutional lists, but also economically unproductive and, therefore, deserving of nothing but discouragement.

    Bishop Kukah only stopped short of calling for the abolition of the Almajiri when he rhetorically asked The Guardian’s reporter in a recent interview whether Nigerians have ever pondered why the North has become so combustible. Asked Dr. Kukah, “where did it come from? Is there any connection between Boko Haram and the other forms of violent protests that preceded it, whether it is Maitatsine or whatever? Can we explain why this Boko Haram is dominant in Maiduguri, Yobe and not Sokoto or Kebbi? …If these things were about religion and Muslims trying to expand the frontier of Islam, which type of a stupid man will be fighting inside his own house and hope to conquer other people? … I think we see Boko Haram as simply what government can and cannot do. Goodluck Jonathan is not a magician and he certainly does not have more than two eyes, yet a lot of the discussions have been narrowed down to him, merely to politics”. Kukah concluded that what we are witnessing today are the sins we committed during our transition. “We ought to have concluded discussion about constitution before we enacted a new government, but the Nigerian political elite largely made up of the other carpet baggers, who are also with the military, simply wanted the military to hand over very quickly the keys of the kingdom…”

    Democracy, the Bishop said, is not just about the distribution of resources. It is not just about building roads, building houses and building hospitals; it is much more than that. Finally, he said that the indivisibility of Nigeria, in principle, was almost unquestionable, but also warned that “it is not something we could assume because it has to be met by a range of other factors—factors which, unexpectedly, were superbly summed up 34 years ago in about 83 words by a scion of the Caliphate and first executive President of Nigeria, Alhaji Shehu Shagari. According to him, “we accept the concept of federalism because under the Nigerian situation, only a federal set up could cope with the problem of ethnic and other differences. But we want to make the federal system work properly as truly federal system—that is to allow the various components of the federation true autonomy in their own ways to run their own affairs while at the same time regarding themselves as part of a team working for the general good of the nation.” I cannot agree more. In a true federal system created by national dialogue, a framework for Sharia practice without tears could be worked out for states that want it while the problem of Almajiri could be made to fall squarely on the second and third tiers of government with the federal government only giving subsidiary help, since the issue bothers completely on local culture.

    • Nzeakah writes from Ota, Ogun State.

  • Femi Fani-Kayode: Nigeria; Not Yorubas, Not Igbos!

    I always knew trouble was brewing. From August 2 when the media published Governor of Anambra State, Peter Obi’s letter to President Goodluck Jonathan threatening “reciprocity or reprisal” ostensibly against south-westerners in Anambra because Governor of Lagos State, Babatunde Fashola “deported and dumped” 72 street beggars in the state.

    Lagos Government had claimed they were only 14 Lagos-based Anambra indigenes at Iweka Bridge, Onitsha “in the thick of the night,” it was stark clear the stage had been set for a trifling inter-ethnic media war.

    Ever since, arguments for and against the propriety of the action of both governors have been flying all about in the media. Ah, Nigerians can so write — and talk! First, I have to shun the temptation to sink my journalistic teeth into the meat of this rumpus from the middle. This is how it began.

    In April, the Lagos State Government retrieved and rehabilitated 14 street idlers who identified themselves as citizens of Anambra. After exchanging communication with the Anambra Liaison Office, it decided (in July) to “integrate” the 14 into their original state of origin. I like to assume, on behalf of Governor Obi, that the liaison office failed in its duties to notify him. And pronto, Obi penned a letter to Jonathan, inflated the figure of returned citizens from 14 to 72, changed the official designation (as used by both Lagos State and Anambra Liaison office) from “integration” to “deportation” and fed his bellicosely worded letter to the media. I have mulled over Obi’s actions and they are nothing to be proud of — for two reasons.

    I was in Uyo, Akwa Ibom State sometime last year at a time the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) was in town on an official engagement. Although prominent figures in rival political parties, host governor, Godswill Akpabio and Fashola (both lawyers) bantered on a number of matters, including those relating to other governors. At the inspection of one of Akpabio’s infrastructural projects, I was close enough to grip snippets of their conversation. And I left with one impression: notwithstanding the quarrelsome ACN-PDP media relationship, governors from both parties (and others) are a clique of friends who genuinely maintain a healthy level of personal friendship. Now, on Obi’s ‘deportation’ grouse, I am wondering how the media — rather than Fashola — suddenly became the friend he turned to. As Fashola himself confirmed, Obi had called him on phone to discuss less important matters — in the past.

    Two, Obi — governor of one of the south-eastern states that comprised the short-lived Republic of Biafra — is one of the last public office holders who should be doing anything close to stoking the embers of inter-ethnic hostilities. Anyone who has read any of the many accounts of the Nigerian Civil War understands that the war did not begin on 30th May 1976 when the Military Governor of the old Eastern Nigeria, the late Chukwuemeka Odumegwu-Ojukwu, proclaimed the region a sovereign state by the name, The Republic of Biafra, neither did it start on 6th July 1967, when the Federal Government launched a forceful effort to reclaim the secessionist state. The dawn of the Civil War actually predates even the country’s 1960 Independence to the 50s when seething tribal tension and inter-ethnic suspicions and agitations had reached unmanageable levels.

    Evidently, there were too many Peter Obis in that era. And I really do think that if we had nine more Peter Obis in the country today, the streets of Lagos will, by now, be brimming with blood. I am saddened by Obi’s pattern of reasoning in his case against Lagos. But I am even sadder that he has an unlikely and unfortunate ethnic-chauvinist ally in Mr. Femi Fani-Kayode — unlikely, I say, for another two reasons.

    Until six years ago, Fani-Kayode was enjoying a lengthy political career stretching back to two decades. From his days at the Nigerian National Congress (NNC) in the late 80s to his appointment in 1990 as Chief Press Secretary to the first National Chairman of the National Republican Convention (NRC), Chief Tom Ikimi, Fani-Kayode has played a frontline role in either the government or politics of literally every administration in the last 20 years.

    In 1991, he was Special Assistant to Head of the Nigerian Security Organisation (NSO), Alhaji Umaru Shinkafi. Five years later, he joined the National Democratic Coalition (NADECO) abroad. He joined President Olusegun Obasanjo’s campaign team in 2003, and was subsequently appointed as maiden Special Assistant on Public Affairs to the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. Between 2006 and 2007, he was ‘honourable minister’ in two separate capacities.

    That Fani-Kayode has seen it all is the first reason I find his writings — ramblings, someone said — on the Anambra saga simply disappointing. No one needs to remind Fani-Kayode of the fragility of the country’s democracy and its nationhood. That is why I find the second (particularly) of his two opinions on the matter, titled The Bitter Truth about the Igbos, an immeasurable disservice to the very nation he will claim to have “served” over the decades.

    In that piece, he responds (chiefly) to erstwhile Governor of Abia State, Orji Uzor Kalu’s declaration that “Lagos is no man’s land” and then pontificates about how Yorubas own Lagos and built it. Ultimately — by my interpretation — he tells us that Yorubas are better than Igbos! Pity.

    Fani-Kayode is no doubt a man of history. Full marks to him. But it is tragic that his knowledge of history fails him with a thud on previous ethnicity-oriented sufferings of the country. It doesn’t remind him that in the early 1950s when Nigeria’s century-long crave for independence began gathering steel, each region — Northern, Eastern, and Western (as the country had been divided to by the Richards Constitution of 1946) championed its own agenda. To every region, there was a political party to advance self-serving needs: the Northern Peoples Congress (NPC) for the Northern Region, the National Council of Nigeria and the Cameroons (NCNC) for the Eastern Region, and Action Group for the Western Region. How could his vast knowledge of history not have reminded him that these ethnic divisions were the very foundations of the capitulations that crystallised into the Civil War? That is one.

    In his The Bitter Truth About The Igbos, Fani-Kayode writes: “Lagos and the south west [sic] are the land and the patrimony of the Yoruba [sic] and we will not allow anyone, no matter how fond of them we may be, to take it away from us or share it with us in the name of ‘being nice,’ ‘patriotism,’ ‘one Nigeria’ or anything else.” To Kalu’s no-man’s-land stance, he retorts: “We cannot be expected to tolerate or accept that sort of irreverant [sic] and unintelligent rubbish simply because we still happen to believe in ‘one Nigeria’ and we will not sacrifice our rights or prostitute our principles on the alter [sic] of that ‘one Nigeria.’”

    Clearly, such caustic words in response to kalu’s (inaccurate, I have to admit) mere statement are uncharitable and unbefitting of a two-portfolio former Minister of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. That is two. If anyone asked me, I’d say there are only fewer tragedies than an ex-minister’s willingness to sacrifice Nigeria’s oneness for proof of ownership of Lagos. Plus, if he were half as loyal to the Yoruba cause as he attempted to portray in his treatises, I wonder why he didn’t turn down those lucrative federal appointments to remain a commissioner in Lagos or elsewhere in the Southwest. Fani-Kayode wants to prove Lagos is Yoruba land. And so what? Exactly what next after that? We drive the Igbos away?

    Nigeria is far from the country of my dreams but I am happily first a Nigerian, before a Yoruba. Thankfully, for every Fani-Kayode, there is a Femi Okunnu, whose sense of nationalism I will readily recommend to any prospective public office holder. “Where are you from?” the octogenarian asked on our meeting.

    “Ogun,” I replied. And he cut in.

    “No. You are Nigerian, and from a place, a location in the country. You young people must begin to de-emphasise your states or regions of origin.”

    Now, some agenda setting. Fani-Kayode devoted 5,425 words over two pieces to reminding Igbos that they are guests in Lagos. Bravo! Meanwhile, the aviation ministry he administered between 2006 and 2007 is as horrible as ever, splotched by life-threatening corruption and airline capriciousness. It was under his watch as Minister of Aviation that the N19.5bn Aviation Intervention fund was mismanaged. And the blithe disregard for customers in aviation is such that Nigerian airlines — led by Arik, the culprit-in-chief — daily delay flights by hours without any form of passenger compensation. I should think such matters should worry a former Minister of Aviation.

    Fani-Kayode was a notable cabinet member of an administration that claimed to have invested billions of dollars in power projects but current electricity supply still yoyos terribly the way it did 10 years ago. Next time he has a “bitter truth” to tell, I hope he does on the true reasons why the monies have not translated to improved supply. If Fani-Kayode would continue ignoring the altruistic issues requiring his response as “a servant of truth,” in another 20 years, I wonder what role he would have played in Nigeria’s unity — or disunity. In his closet, I hope he has the candour to ask himself this question.

     

    Lagos-based journalist, ‘Fisayo, available on Twitter (@fisayosoyombo) sent this piece via fisayo.soyombo@flairng.com

     

  • Ayo Daramola: Seven years on

    SIR: On August 14, 2006, Dr. Ayo Daramola, Chairman of Ekiti State Poverty Reduction Agency (EKPRA) was murdered in cold blood in his Ijan-Ekiti country home.

    Brilliant, intelligent, well-versed, well-connected, well-loved, he was just the perfect person for the job, but some entrenched forces in government at the time didn’t really like his meteoric rise which, if not felled, could have seen him to the Ekiti Government House.

    Arrests were made. Then, they were released. The then Governor Ayo Fayose did everything, including allegedly swearing with the Bible, to convince everyone that he had no hand in it, but with the deaths of Tunde Omojola, attempted deaths of Taye Fasuba, Femi Falana and the many death threats to Chief Afe Babalola (all these people had one problem or the other with then Governor Fayose) at this time, the governor’s oath did nothing to convince the masses and the Ekiti elites who seemed to have already drawn their conclusion.

    Seven years down the line, no one has been brought to book for the murder of Daramola. The worst nightmare is that some of the characters who were fingered as culpable in the murder of Daramola are still around, some of them trying to make their way back to the Ekiti Government House and have already started re-opening their pandora box as typified by the violence that recently broke out at the PDP secretariat in Ado-Ekiti.

    As we mark the seven years anniversary of the cold-blooded murder of Ayo Daramola – yet again with elusive justice, I sympathise again with the Daramola family of Ijan-Ekiti and with the wife and the kids. I commend also the Government of Dr. Kayode Fayemi which, unlike previous administrations in Ekiti, has been supportive to the family and in fact appointed wife of the late Daramola, Mrs. Kehinde Ayo-Daramola as Special Adviser, Government House and Protocol.

    • ‘Dimeji Daniels

    Ado-Ekiti, Ekiti State

     

     

     

  • From the cell phone

    For Dare Olatunji

     

    When all the sheep are dressed as wolves, it is difficult to single out the real from the fake. Gen. T. Y. Danjuma (rtd) has not said anything new. ‘The spirit of Zaria’ prevailed because of the regional structure in place then. It would have been a different kettle of fish altogether if he had lent his voice to the dominating calls for the proper restructuring of Nigeria as a true federation. After all, one person with courage makes a majority. From O. O. Adegoke, Ikhin, Edo State

    Thank you for your write-up “The spirit of Zaria”. The moment you mentioned St. Paul’s Zaria, I became nostalgic and wished I could turn back the hands of the clock. I remember the strong but healthy competition, between St. Paul’s and my school St. John’s College Kaduna in both academics and sports especially football and athletics. You remember Davies cup and Philips Cup in the 50s and 60s. How I wish Nigeria of today will be like that of the sixties, when Nigerians lived together in harmony irrespective of tribe. Military coups in the sixties, destroyed this country’s match, to greatness. I grew up in Kaduna and I said myself as a full fledged Kaduna State indigene, even though I am from the south by parentage. God help Nigeria. From A. I. Olisadebe

    Dare, you deserve to be given a professor of journalism for your scholarstic no false analysis of the truth, historical facts of the status of the ‘spirit of Zaria’. You have spoken the mind of anyone that has lived in that great and respected ancient City. Oh, Zaria of yesterday we need that spirit back because I am a benificiary of St.Endas of those joyful days. More grease to your journalistic intellect. God bless you, keep it up sir. Anonymous

    The elders in the North had been told the home truth by their fellow nothern brother. A strategist does not talk too much, he talks less and strategises on how to move his community forward. The region they are shouting to return the power to in 2015 is burning still, they keep on making inflamatory statements and talking from both sides of their mouth. In this respect, I urge all the Nothern elders and the youth to wake up from their slumber and srategise on how to return the North to its original state. From Hamza Ozi Momoh, Apapa Lagos

    I observed you never questioned where Danjuma got the N2bn he donated to ABU? This is from a single person, in a country suffering from abject poverty? Anonymous

    Dare, thanks. The far north leadership need to sit down and tackle the following: child marriage, birth control for men above 40 or four children per man, not per woman, free primary/secondary education, and delibrate control of islamic teachers. Anonymous

    “The spirit of Zaria”, an insight of historical educational institute of an ancient city. Dare keep it up please. Anonymous

    T.Y really meant well but the spirit of oppression has disintegrated the union. How many lives has Danjuma touched with his billionaires oil wells? He really means his business of 2015 but Nigerians do not need such old blood with precolonial ideas. This is computer age please. From Abdul, Ikare

    Dare, great article as usual. I think Gen. Danjuma should be drafted to run for President in 2015 by the APC. The nation needs him in times like these. What do you think? Anonymous

    I read you once in a while without making any pronounced comment. But today’s “spirit of Zaria” is not only historical and instructive, but irresistible. I also love the roll call of surnames as if you were a form master. O kare oga Dare. From Ombugadu Francis, Karu, Nasarawa state

    “The spirit of Zaria” is awesome and a dear tonic at this turbulent time which I believe will be over one day. From Edi, Makurdi

    Allow Gen. T. Y. Danjuma (rtd) to be the next President and let “the spirit of Zaria” be one of his many points agenda, can such arangement profer any permanent solution to the backwardness of the north or can that be any solution to the present insurgence cum youth restiveness? From Peter Rominiyi, Abuja

    “The spirit of Zaria” is an interesting piece. I write to give kudos to General T.Y. Danjuma (retd). What gladdens my heart is that, the respected general has not in any way soiled his good name and reputation. That is why he can speak frankly and bluntly. Can some of the Northern leaders do so? I also praise him for his courage and belief that Zaria just like Nigeria is redeemable. I will implore him not to relent in his struggle to make Nigeria great again. God will surely bless and reward him he is a true patriot and a gallant soldier at that. From Ojo A. Ayodele, Emure Ekiti

    You probably would not remember me but I knew you as far back as when I was a staff of the Concord Group, member, editorial board, deputy editor, National Concord and Columnist, Sunday Concord. “The spirit of Zaria”, which I have just finished reading, is excellent by any standard and instructive as well (for the North and northerners), which I understand pretty well as an old boy of St Enda’s Teachers College and Ahmadu Bello University. Remain blessed, always. From HRH Alhaji Ismaila Mohammed, Emir of Karshi, Abuja.

    Your write-up on “The spirit of Zaria” is a masterpiece. I also had that ‘spirit’ in me because l went through the Nigerian Military School (1968-1972). We were 60 in my class and the entire country was equally represented. We schooled and lived as one united family irrespective of tribe or religion. We were, and still are our brothers’ keepers. Till today, we still communicate with one another. I wish and pray “The spirit of Zaria” will return. From Momy G. (NMF/506)

     

     

    For Segun Gbadegesin

     

    Segun, you now make Jonathan your Prugel Kind just like Hitler and his true Aryan although he was a settler in Germany. Do you mean that integration of Yoruba into OPC is not ethnic politics or that being Yoruba you know more than Jonathan? From AEO Uyo.

    If supper patriots like Aminu Kano, Akanu Ibiam, former governor of the then Eastern Nigeria,Gani Fawehinmi, etc, were to come back to life to talk about Nigerian economy being in tatters due to leadership failure, Nigerians are bound to listen to them with rapt attention, because we knew them. Not Danjuma and his likes.Those who, because of their proximity to the nation’s wealth, converted it to their private property should not be the same turning round to talk of leadership failure and poverty in the country and be taken serious. Nobody is deceived. Until a convincing explanation is given to us on how the same General who has spent his entire life in public service suddenly turn Nigerian Billgate, Danjuma should have no moral justification to talk about the masses of the people chained down in dehumanising and grinding poverty consequent of bad leadership of which he is an intergral part. Enough of that deceit. From Emmanuel Egwu

    Your opinion on Ethnicising Politics was not only timely but was powerful. More grease to your elbow. From Dele Oyewole

    Re: Ethnising politics. All the political parties are guilty of ethnic politics most especially, the old ACN with we must hold on to our West dance! Opalaba should look beyond Mr President for critique. From Lanre Oseni

    On this count, Opalaba was right; you were wrong. Have a great weekend Prof. Regards. From Olu.

    Re: Ethnicising politics. Well done my dear Opalaba, I really missed you, my thought was that you have chickened away, and I do not see reason why you should when you did not during Abacha time. I have decorated you with Ayekoto of this time, oye a mori o. From Pastor Esan Ajibola JP, 2 Academy road, Ibadan

    APC is the party we know. I will make sure APC win in Futo and environs..a party with a posulating desire that trascends everthing that the masses want. Anonymous

    Yes I believe in all what you have said, it is true it is good to be good, God bless you and God bless Nigeria. Anonymous

    Nigeria’s problem is that we play tribal and religious politics, it will not augur well for development. Carrying along is answer for transformation. From Gordon Chika Nnorom

     

    For Gbenga Omotoso

     

    Re: Allah-De: A aaster’s passage. I am most happy for your realism as stated in the last paragraph of your write-up. That had always been my quarrel with your co-columnists as if governments are isolative! Late Papa Allah De loved and was loved. He was upright and transparent. Such a person, we pray, will inherit and be placed in Al-janah Firdauz. From Lanre Oseni

    I have just read your column in The Nation: Allah-De: A master’s passage. I must confess that it was well written sir. You make me buy The Nation on Thursdays. From Abiola

    “Allah-De: A master’s passage” was prolific sublimity. Savored every drop. From Dapo Ogunwusi

    Dear Gbenga, I read your thoughtful and incisive article titled ‘Allah-De: A master’s passage’. All the masters mentioned were indeed great. But how do we rate ‘Ayekooto’ – Olabisi Onabanjo, Dele Giwa and Tola Adeniyi. From K. W. Mustapha, Ibadan

    Good piece by you on the back page of The Nation. Surprised, you did not mention late Dele Giwa’s Sunday paralax in the defunct Sunday Concord.

    It is like you did not like and still do not like, even in death, Dele Giwa. He was a master of prose, and his contributions to contemporary Nigerian journalism, both as a columnist and a media administrator, remain indelible. He should have also been mentioned in your “Allah- De: A master‘s passage”. From Jamgbadi, Benin City

    Gbenga, I went through your write-up on late Alade Odunewu in The Nation. To be sincere, the topic “Allah-De: A master’s passage” arose my passion to read about the man’s deed, as a great journalist worthy of emulation, considering your atractive opening paragrph. But from ‘the colunm’s agenda’ to the end, the focus changes, depicting passages of the old and new columnists and their worth. Odunewu’s prediction on Bonfere’s apointmnt is the only place, correlating (1%) with the topic. In short, the gist of your topic is in contrary to what you put down. many people and I will be glad to read about his own passage. From Muili A. D., FRSC

    For Olakunle Abimbola

     

    Sir, yet again this past Tuesday you have delivered another powerful sublime write-up. May God bless you. From Ada Chukwuma, Sapele

    With the registration of APC, 20l5 general election is going to be a war of titans between APC and PDP. l just pray the better side wins so that the nation will move forward. From Gordon Chika Nnorom, Umukabia, Abia state

    Yesterday’s ripples very very logical. God bless you. From Tunde Akingbade

    On your “Neither Jonathan nor the North”, I really want to let you know that, if President Jonathan had wanted to toe the ways of Baba Obasanjo, he would have frustrated the effort of INEC to register your party, APC. So you and your opposition party should try and commend him for once. Afterall you people say anything that happens in Nigeria, the President caused it. Oga and madam at the top, including Governor Amaechi and his house of assembly palaver. From General Vic Marine, Port Harcourt

    Re: Neither Jonathan nor the North. Beautiful piece with decorous balance. Personally, I am very happy at the birth of the APC but beyond the euphoria lies the reality of Nigeria’s political situation that needs urgent disection and drastic solution. For this to happen, the shareholding parties need to have a ‘sovereign national conference’ among themselves to sustain their co-habitation, then agree on the best way to fix Nigeria to the benefit of the majority at the shortest possible time and use this as a launching pad. Some parties will not want this to happen and would do everything to make sure APC fails. May God not allow that to happen because the crash or failure of APC together with Nigeria’s political temperature equals the crash and/or failure of Nigeria. The APC should start working its talk. From Kayode A., Abeokuta.

    Thank you for your write-up “Neither Jonathan nor the North”. We haven seen the birth of APC, let see how it will be nurtured. The national convention of the party will provide the first test of its decision making strength. From A. I. Olisadebe

    Thank God the APC was finally registered. But just as you reflected on, let the organisers be told in clear terms that Nigerians are not just looking for a viable alternative to PDP for the fun of it. We do not need any longer the government of the progresive GDP in paper that can only end up producing more rural and urban poor. Nigerians eagerly await to embrace the people-oriented party anyday,for the better. That is if APC is it. Every Nigerian is entitled to call for power shift to his own territory or any region of his interest. Nobody is deceived. The people are no fools, having suffered enough deprivations and hardship amidst plenty over the years, courtesy of our purposeless leadership. Jega has really done well by registering the APC at last but he and Jonathan government stil have to complete the circuit by providing a level-playing ground for all d participants failure of which the registration of the party turns farcical. From Emmanuel Egwu

     

     

  • “Deportation” saga: Anambra’s to blame

    SIR: I had cause to speak on the vexed issue of the relocation of some indigenes of Anambra State from Lagos to Onitsha at a private forum in Lagos last weekend.  Based on the facts then available to me, I condemned the action of the Lagos State government (LASG) and also blamed Anambra State government (ANSG) for resorting to letter writing to President Jonathan each time the issue arose instead of confronting the problem frontally. I had also argued that Anambra State government should have screened the alleged 72 returnees, identify those from Anambra State and rehabilitate them while returning the non-Anambrarians back to the sender.

    Most unfortunately but not unexpectedly, my views  were  maliciously and mischievously distorted by the media aides of the Anambra State governor and planted in some national dailies and on the internet. The sole intention was to pitch me against my elder brother, Senator Chris Ngige who had criticized the handling of the matter by the Anambra State government  and sow discord between me and my brother silk, Babatunde Raji Fashola, SAN.

    Let me make it clear that the wicked plot of the Anambra State government has failed abysmally.  Nigerians and Anambrarians can no longer be fooled.

    It is noteworthy that at the time I made the said remarks at the private forum, I was not privy to the exchange of correspondences between the Lagos State government and its Anambra State counterpart.  However, after the event, I read the  emerging  correspondences  and reports on the strong defence mounted by the LASG.  It then became obvious to me that the documents showed clearly that LASG had by March 2013 intimated ANSG on the planned transfer of the destitute. It is equally apparent from the documents that it was a clear case of dereliction of duty by the ANSG. The Anambra State government has no excuse whatsoever not to follow through on the transfer after acknowledging letters from LASG and agreeing on the exchange date. Further reading the letters, I have no doubt whatsoever that the blame for the current debacle rests squarely with ANSG despite its desperation to politicize the matter with the unholy aim of gaining votes from the crisis during the forthcoming  Anambra State governorship election in November.

    It is apparent that the  controversy would have been averted had the ANSG played its part as agreed. What is clearly in issue is that ANSG wrote to LASG requesting ‘urgently’ for particulars of the destitute claiming to be indigenes of Anambra State so as to “facilitate their integration with their families if they are from Anambra”.  LASG responded with a list of 14 names including their particulars and requested the presence of ANSG officials for a screening exercise at  the Ikorodu Rehabilitation Centre. Anambra State Government  never got back to LASG!   Anambra governor now alleges that 72 persons were repatriated instead of  only  14.  Where is the honour? Where is the integrity?  This is obviously a very sad reminder of the Nigerian Governors Forum election where 16 became a majority against 19 and the Anambra governor was in the fore-front of this show of shame.

    The Anambra State government  should simply apologise to the Fashola administration for maligning  the administration and  misinforming Nigerians on the issue and stop this unethical and ungodly ethnic politics. LASG remains the most friendly government to Anambrarians and Ndigbo in general more than any other state in Nigeria.

     

     

    • Emeka Ngige, SAN

    Lagos

     

  • Why Nigerians should embrace APC

    SIR: It is high time Nigerians decide what they want for themselves if they really want the country to change for good. We have been roaming about for over 14 years and yet we have not been able to ascertain the right route to take.

    Our failures have been a subject of contest since we transited to democracy after many years of military rule. We thought the emergence of democracy was the beginning of uplift for Nigeria and its populace until now that we have realised that people begin to contemplate if really democracy is good for Nigeria.

    We struggle everyday before we could settle for at least a meal in spite of the numerous resources that the country is endowed with. Over the years, the country has witnessed serious mismanagement and expropriation of public funds by the ruling PDP and yet have refused to accept its failure.

    For how long are we going to continue wandering in the hands of the PDP? We are denied of everything, there is incessant power outage, lack of free and fair election, lack of good drinking water and most importantly qualitative education.

    For more than five weeks now, the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) has been on industrial action over the insincerity of the government and unwillingness to fulfil the agreement it entered into with ASUU in 2009. They keep telling us that what they are demanding for can not be met by any government in the world but somebody can steal billions of naira from the country’s treasury at the expense of millions of people.

    Since 1999, we have been promised so many things by the PDP-led administration and none of it has been fulfilled yet. When Jonathan came into power, despite his campaign promises and the struggles that trailed his emergence, everybody tended to believe and trust him until he ruined our New Year celebration with fuel price hike!

    Nigerians are dying everyday as a result of insecurity, we have military men who can secure our pipelines but now we have a group of erstwhile bandits given contracts to secure the pipelines. This is a job military men could do have done without our having to pay them huge amount of money aside their salaries and allowances.

    It is against this backdrop that All Progressives Alliance emerged (APC). I am not saying that APC is 100 percent perfect but if something does not favour someone, you try an alternative. Consequently, Nigerians should join the fight to wrestle power away from a party that cannot settle the crises within it let alone solve the problems of millions of people.

    • Waziri Mohammed

    Mokola, Ibadan

     

  • The girl child at Big Brother Africa

    SIR: A few of us tried to rescue the girl child from the Yerimas of this world but see what she is doing at Big Brother Africa. she can not draw the clear distinction between dignity and immorality. She traded away the temple of God in the name of game. It’s ‘un-african’ for the girl child to live without virtue. Those of us who thought that only the Yerimas of this world pose a great danger to the girl child need to think twice because the girls have proved that she is not only a danger to her self but to the world.

    Some call it a game but I can not see the game that is geared toward the destruction of our values. Parents must hencefourth begin to structure the up-bring of their wards along african-philosophical creed. I do not believe one needs to toe the path of moral negativity in the quest for fame, wealth, etc.

    Please the girl child owe us a duty to act right whenever she is in public especially on international media. Come to think of it, how will her unborn child feels if she see’s her mum wasting away with another man in the pool of nudity.

    Can somebody tell her to stand up for what is right? We are africans and we must cherish our value. Its our pride and heritage. She may not understand in-view of the prize tag. But I pray she will one day understand that money is not every thing.

    • Godfrey Ogbaisi.

    Benin City

     

  • Much ado about visa bond

    SIR: Few weeks ago, the UK authorities announced a new visa policy which makes it mandatory for new visitors to the country to pay a sum of £3,000 visa bond in addition to other customary visa processing fees. As usual, many Nigerians went wild with anger with the dominant elites invading newspaper pages to condemn the measure and accuse Britain of neo-racist inclination.

    Quite unfortunately, rather than re-think the decision following this widespread outrage, authorities in the UK have only gone ahead to confirm their stance by fixing November this year for the commencement of the new policy. Admittedly, while the move may appear to have dealt a fatal blow to ongoing efforts by the Commonwealth of Nations to promote free movement among member states, it is nevertheless pertinent to note that the British government has come out to insist that the policy is a pilot scheme and is predominantly person-specific. It is targeted at high-risk immigrants with phase one covering selected countries in Asia and Africa noted for their high immigrant burden in the UK.

    Indeed, having made these clarifications, it becomes needles to saddle the government with further explanations again on the real reasons behind the new visa regime until it becomes fully operational during which opportunity will be presented to do a clear-headed assessment of implementation process and identify possible area(s) of diplomatic mischief.

    As a matter of fact, if Nigeria is admissible to all forms of dangerous ‘immigrants’ turned sectarian terrorists, we cannot expect other countries to be similarly lax in the area of imaginative response to national security challenges. Britain has maintained that her doors remain open to the best and brightest minds irrespective of climes. The simple statement inherent in the new policy is that the country will no longer welcome clueless artisans, glorified ragamuffins and itinerant killers masquerading as asylum seekers and re-defining her society along the path of violent cultural and religious intolerance.

    Happy enough, Britain has also made provisions to reimburse visitors who do not violate the visa terms. Therefore, instead of the present energy-sapping broadside, why not, on our own part, begin to look at more innovative ways to secure our various homelands in Nigeria just as Britain has done and may yet do more.

     

    • Dr Omotajo O.R.

    Oke’Badan Estate, Ibadan.

     

  • Prof. Wanjala weeps for Nigeria

    His eyes must have misted as he beheld the musty edifice of shame at Iganmu in the Mainland of Lagos. The National Arts Theatre which in 1977 was a symbol of Nigeria’s emerging power and influence in Africa and the world has withered into utter dereliction and abandon. For many years, the Theatre, Nigeria’s showpiece architecture and cultural hotspot had become at best, the hub of drunkards and at worst a paradise for miscreant and marauders.

    This is Nigeria’s sad reality that must have evoked tears from a visiting Kenyan professor, Chris Wanjala. The don who was in Nigeria for the conference of the Nigerian Oral Literature Association, NOLA, had lamented: “I was here in 1977 when we had FESTAC and it was built anew then. It had several compartments where plays and cultural activities were being performed in so many places. It represented a centre for the promotion of the arts and culture across the continent. Ironically, there has been so many controversies around the National Theatre, talking about its neglect and all … its neglect over the years is a tragedy because that is what we, in Kenya and across Africa are emulating. It is even (more) a loss to us than to Nigerians because we have always felt that is how we want to organise our own cultural institutions. It is a shame.”

    Wanjala is a poet, novelist and a Professor of Literature at the University of Nairobi since 1985. Author of a recent novel, Drums of Death, he is cited as being deeply aware of the disruption of traditional rural culture by modernity. This, of course, explains Wanjala’s agony over an edifice that ought to have been the fulcrum of Black and Africa’s arts and culture. After the staging of a great arts and culture festival in 1977, more ordered countries would have latched unto that template to convert Nigeria into the centre for Black and African culture. A less philistine government and people would have developed the National Theatre, 37 years after, into a cultural tourist centre of global renown; outposts and mini sites would have sprung up across the country to harness our rich cultural endowments. Many tertiary institutions from across the world would have been affiliated to it to benefit from a rich archive and documentation trove. It was designed to be the centre of excellence for creative art, design, traditional music, drama, folklore and more.

    Prof. Wanjala probably expected all this as he visited Nigeria and hurried to that poetic edifice of sublime presence situated at the crossroads of Iganmu, by the brackish water where Lagos Mainland meets Lagos Island. The scholar was shocked; he didn’t believe what he beheld, the ugly remains of a Theatre he probably had boasted about in his country as a model. “This is where there is a tragedy,” he echoed, “Our leaders have become even (more) brainwashed than the people they are leading. In other words, they put so much value on economic issues and other sectors where they get handout from.”

    If Prof. Wanjala had look closer, he would have seen the pockmarks of philistinism all around the country and he would have noticed that this theatre of shame is only a metaphor for how we live today. It is emblematic of the regression which has been our national narrative since in the last few decades. If only our leaders paid attention to “economic issue”, a lot would have been different but they have paid attention to nothing of substance. That is why the national telephony broke down, national carrier crashed, power quenched, energy sector stymied, education failed – name it, anything the Federal Government ought to tend to in the last three decades has been left in a sorry state. If only Wanjala has seen the old Federal Secretariat at Ikoyi, Lagos… what monumental waste!